The Priest Wilderness - Appalachian Trail - Priest Mountain Shelter and Spring

This was one of those hikes where I spent no time preparing and just got out and hiked. I had another commitment fall through and had a weekend to spare, so what better to do than get a few more miles on the Appalachian Trail. As I get farther from my home in Maryland, these section hike trips get a little more difficult (more driving, less hiking). This one was no exception. After just completing a section on the PA/NJ border, I figured I’d go south again and try to set a southern point to connect up with where I left off outside Shenandoah National Park. I was looking for good parking, water, and the potential to cross paths with other hikers. I was getting a late start on Saturday and knew I would not be hiking until after 5:30PM. The parking at VA56 below “The Priest” met my needs. I did a quick scan of google maps and saw that the walking directions were only 2.8 miles (way off from reality as I found later).

The parking at VA56 is excellent, with plenty of room for a dozen cars or so and easy access to the trail. The parking is at AT mile 833.2. I took a quick walk North to grab some photos of the cool suspension bridge and then began hiking South. I quickly noticed there were a lot of switchbacks and that the mountain in the distance was pretty tall…very tall in fact.
At 0.9 Miles there are two pretty nice stream crossings with small waterfalls.
At About 1.2 miles South of the parking is an outstanding waterfall that parallels the trail for a while and then crosses. This is Cripple Creek. Get your cameras ready.
From this point, there is about 2200’ more elevation gain and 36 switchbacks before you get to The Priest shelter.
At about 4.3 miles into the hike, you reach the ridge with a number of outstanding views and tons of places to “Cowboy Camp”.
The Priest Shelter is 4.7 miles from the parking.
It is all uphill and is moderately difficult. It’s a long way up.
The shelter is just soso but the tent sites are good. The water source was flowing heavily after all the rain we had been getting. There is no bear box or pole (hang your own). The privy was buzzing with flies, so I stayed away.. ☹  

This was a 10.3 mile hike in total for me, covering a wee 4.8 miles of the AT, leaving me a roughly 30 mile section to fill in. 😊

This was filmed entirely on my iPhone 6 and edited with Wondershare Filmora.